I'm back and hitting the gym full force again and i had a couple questions.

So right now, just to get back into the swing of things I've been doing pretty simple routines. Dips/Pullups/Squats one day and Backrow/Bench/Deadlift the next, day off, repeat.So far from this alone I'm getting good results. But, like a lot of people in this forum, I wan't to get stronger!

I have been doing this routine for about 4 weeks now and wanted to try something a little different. I was looking through the training articles on the main page and came across the "Total Body-Mass Routine," by Mr. Tresize and want to give it a go. My question was,

How many sets of each exercise should i be doing and at about how many reps?

You should try doing dropsets worked great for me when i started working out(if you have any injuries it might be to hard on the muscles) You do 3 sets per exersize 1 set is 10-12 reps pritty easy just get the blood into the muscle2 set 8-12 reps heavy but stop 2 reps before fail3 set 8-12 reps Take the max weight you can do 8-12 go for fail , drop to lighter weight 8-12 to fail and then drop a last time 8-12 (final set is 24-36 reps total)this gives you a sick pump i would say 4-5 exercises which gives you a total of 12-15 sets per muscle tho i only do 2 exercises for calf, hamstring and abs but then i do for sets and i do diffrent reps on abs and calf depending on how they respond (sorry for bad english hope you understood)

If it's mass you're after then rep ranges should be no more than 6ish as a general rule.

To build mass the weight needs to be heavy.

You also do not need to lift to failure to get bigger/stronger. You should always leave a rep or two in the tank. You do not need to be dragging deck after every session, You should always work hard of course but people think you need to be dead after a work out, you don't. Adding to this you do not always lift to a "max" weight each time you lift.

Asking your body to improve over a longer period of time means better gains & more acceptance. Doing to much to soon will mean at some point the body wont want to know.

For mass all the workouts need to be based off Military pressing (no leg movement at all), dead lifts, squats & barbell benching...

"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler

boardn10 wrote:But Vegan, didn't you also say that there are lots of massive bodybuilders who never squat or deadlift? I think you can gain quality mass without squats and deadlifts but everyone is different.

There are, but of course, the bulk of them are using "enhancements", and they're still hammering out lots of leg presses, hack squats, leg extensions, etc. in place of squats. You can still build size without them (just not a lot of carry-over strength as leg press = pure crap for real strength that will transfer to squats). Squats and deads are ideal as they'll give the most bang for your buck, but of course, if you can't do them, there are ways around it, just that you may need to do more to get the same as you would from squats!

"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

For me personally I like to cycle through a couple of months training for strength, then a couple of months on higher rep/lower weights, using dropsets/trisets/supsersets.

I find going REALLY heavy to start with, aiming for 6-10 reps and focusing correct form, and increasing the weight over time is great to build up the initial strength, and for getting a good mind-muscle connection.

Then the couple of months you spend completely burning out muscle groups with higher reps (12-15) and using dropsets and supersets works well to build and shape the muscle and pack on size.

The reason I think it works better to build your strength up first is so you can go heavier and harder on the higher rep stuff just my opinion though, it works for me.

Mixing it up keeps your body guessing and keeps it interesting, so I think as long as you vary your training style from time to time you can't really go wrong

boardn10 wrote:But Vegan, didn't you also say that there are lots of massive bodybuilders who never squat or deadlift? I think you can gain quality mass without squats and deadlifts but everyone is different.

There are, but of course, the bulk of them are using "enhancements", and they're still hammering out lots of leg presses, hack squats, leg extensions, etc. in place of squats. You can still build size without them (just not a lot of carry-over strength as leg press = pure crap for real strength that will transfer to squats). Squats and deads are ideal as they'll give the most bang for your buck, but of course, if you can't do them, there are ways around it, just that you may need to do more to get the same as you would from squats!

On point as always VeganEssentials, Look at what VeganEssential has listed. Squats give you a greater bang for your buck. It's about training smart, not necessarily harder & the carry over from the other things like leg press, As stated isn't all that great. If squatting is just simply to hard then stuff like leg pressing ect is a great way to build up to squats, I know a ruby player who did this & now is on the Smolov squats program at an advanced level.

I use to hit leg day with hacks, pressing, curls blah blah now...All I do is squats with good mornings, Deads along with front squats & always glute ham raises on lower days. if you can squat correctly then you can learn anything

"Don't fall for that crap that people are peddling on the message boards, in magazines or on TV. Get your shit in order, and get your training in order. Start kicking ass, and take out the crap that doesn't matter" Jim Wendler